Referrals for female genital mutilation must rise, say MPs.

government should make the failure of professionals to report concerns a criminal offence unless reports rise substantially, a committee of MPs has said.

In a hard hitting report that denounces the practice as an “extreme form of child abuse,” the House of Commons home affairs committee called the UK’s failure to tackle FGM a “national scandal” and urged the adoption of a national action plan.

The report described the record of referrals of cases to social services by healthcare professionals as “extremely poor” and said many cannot even recognise the signs that a child is at risk. “It is unacceptable that those in a position with the most access to evidence of these crimes do nothing to help the victims and those at risk,” the MPs said…